Apple has released Mac OS 9 with fanfare, billing it as "the best Internet OS ever" and touting more than 50 new features. Some of these features add significant new capabilities (like file sharing over the Internet, encryption, support for multiple users, and automatic software updating via the Internet); other features mark the return of old ideas (the Keychain password management tool, a Sound control panel, and flexible PlainTalk speech recognition); and still other features are extensions of previous enhancements, like the almost unrecognizable Sherlock 2

Although Apple claims there are 50 new features in Mac OS 9, most people are likely to care about only a few. The question is: do Mac OS 9's new features make it compelling for you? This article takes quick looks at some major features in Mac OS 9, and next week we'll look at additional features, more subtle changes, and under-the-hood tweaks. Sherlock 2 -- The most-hyped feature of Mac OS 9 is Sherlock 2, a significant revision to the Internet-enabled Find feature that debuted with Mac OS 8.5

Previously, we looked at some installation and compatibility issues with Mac OS 9, as well as some major new features: Sherlock 2, Multiple Users and Voice Verification, plus the Keychain and Apple File Security

Apple Computer has released a free Mac OS 9.0.4 which claims to offer enhanced USB and FireWire support, provide improved networking and power management, plus improve video, graphics, and audio functionality

Mac OS 9.1 Available Online at Nearly 70 MB -- Apple has quietly released Mac OS 9.1, the latest version of its shipping operating system. Mac OS 9.1 improves support for Multiple Users and iTools, and offers a number of under the hood enhancements including AppleScript 1.5.5, AppleShare Client 3.8.8, OpenGL 1.2, revised FireWire software, a new process manager (enabling faster task switching and better performance for some background applications), and a substantially revised nanokernel